The pleasure of looking good

Sometimes it seems like everything in the European Union is over-regulated but when it comes to cosmetics/ toiletries I wished it was everywhere like in Europe. Dr. Daniel Goleman writes in his book Ecological Intelligence “How regulators think about toxicity makes a difference in what goes into the products we use.”

The European approach is “better-safe-than-sorry”, also called the precautionary principle. That means that as soon as European toxicologists suspect potential harm to human beings in a substance this substance is banned. Contrary, in the USA the approach is that a chemical with inherent toxicity might still be safe for use under normal or certain conditions, whatever that means. With other words, unless there is definite evidence that a substance severely harms you they do not bother taking it off the market. Proud to serve the industry, as usual. In the USA the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was founded in 1979. It immediately “ruled that the use of about 62,000 substances could continue without testing any of them, including some chemicals that were known to be harmful such as ethylbenzene.” Ethylbenzene is an industrial solvent that causes damage to the brain. Thirty years later the EPA has still not required testing for most of these substances.   

Back in Europe a program called REACH (registration, evaluation, authorization of chemicals) aims to test and evaluate tens of thousands of chemicals, not only those that were allowed to be used in everyday products by the EPA but also new ones that have come up since. “REACH will generate a new kind of periodic table, tabulating hazardousness rather than molecular structure.”  

Dr. Goleman points out that the number of man-made chemicals with potential danger to us is estimated at 104,000. This includes chemicals used in food as well as any non-food products we might be exposed to. He continues that of these chemicals “10,000 are used each year in volumes greater than 10 tons.” and “Only a fraction has been tested for toxicity in adults, let alone on fetuses or infants.”

The situation for cosmetics in Canada is similar to the USA. Imagine washing your face with substances used to clean roads and heavy duty factory equipment that’s soiled with oil and the likes. Frequently used harmful ingredients in cosmetics have been compiled into the dirty dozen list – for details check out:  http://www.thegreenguide.com/personal-care/dirty-dozen  

Do a quick check, if you got sunscreen handy: See if it’s got oxybenzone in it. This is the active agent that’s meant to protect your skin from the sun but it has also been suspected of having carcinogenic properties when exposed to sunlight.  

Last but not least the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association reckons “that more than 1000 flavouring ingredients may pose respiratory dangers to workers.” 

For information on cosmetics' safety go to Skin Deep http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/